Accents in film and television can very much define an actor's devotion to their craft. Whether it’s Meryl Streep’s Polish accent in Sofie’s Choice, or Frances McDormand’s Minnesota dialect in “Fargo”, the formation of those voices tell the story of where the character is from. But, there’s one actor who reached overnight fame in the 1980’s for his uniquely hilarious accent that left the movie-going world scratching their heads. This is Still Here Hollywood. I’m Steve Kmetko. Join me with today’s guest, Serge from “Beverly Hills Cop”, Bronson Pinchot.
This is Still Here Hollywood. I’m Steve Kmetko. Join me with today’s guest, Serge from “Beverly Hills Cop”, Bronson Pinchot.
Accents in film and television can very much define an actor's devotion to their craft. Whether it’s Meryl Streep’s Polish accent in Sofie’s Choice, or Frances McDormand’s Minnesota dialect in “Fargo”, the formation of those voices tell the story of where the character is from.
But, there’s one actor who reached overnight fame in the 1980’s for his uniquely hilarious accent that left the movie-going world scratching their heads.
Steve Kmetko:
Yes. I'm Still Here Hollywood, and coming up on today's episode.
Bronson Pinchot:
And then it was Beverly Hills Cop. I always say it wasn't an overnight sensation. I was a same day sensation. It was great in every way, except for the fact that I was 25. I didn't know how to be a person yet because I'd been on welfare my whole life. And then just not on welfare, just poor. And everybody was not just staring. They were saying things like, sign my girlfriend's breasts. My father was the most enthusiastic and ingenious abuser that you can imagine.
Steve Kmetko:
I'm Sorry, Bronson. This interrupt--
Bronson Pinchot:
No, you mustn't be sorry because it's like saying to the diamond, I'm sorry that lasers came at you and gave you facets.
Steve Kmetko:
Accents in film and television can very much define an actor's devotion to their craft. Whether it's Meryl Streep's, Polish accent in Sophie's Choice, or Frances McDormand Minnesota dialect in Fargo. The formation of those voices tells the story of where the character is from. But there's one actor who reached overnight fame in the 1980s for his uniquely hilarious accent that left the movie Going World Scratching their heads.
This is Still Here Hollywood. I'm Steve Kmetko. Join me with today's guest, Serge from Beverly Hills Cop, Bronson Pinchot.
If you'd like to be more involved with us at Still Here Hollywood, you definitely can just visit patreon.com/stillherehollywood. You can support us for as little as $3 a month. You can get our episodes a day before they post anywhere else. You can see what guests will be coming up and submit questions for them. You can even tell us what stars you want us to have on as guests. You'll see what goes on before and after the episode. Plus, exclusive behind the scenes info picks video and more. Again, that's patreon.com/still herehollywood.
Bronson, how are you?
Bronson Pinchot:
I'm very good and I'm in the very, very most perfect place to interview because I've had one of those weeks where life has scooped me out, like a hard-boiled egg gouged me out, mixed me with a lot of exotic spices that I wasn't really in the mood for and then plopped me back in. That's always the best time to be interviewed because you've been turned into a lobster stuffed with crab and you had all your insights taken out and handed back to you in a new form.
Steve Kmetko:
Did you have surgery or something this week?
Bronson Pinchot:
No, I was putting the finishing touches on the prologue of my memoir. And the prologue of my memoir was as requested, was the most painful part of an extremely difficult part of my life. And so, getting notes on your own life. Well, and not only that, on the ground zero of your being is something that has to be experienced to be grasped because you want. It exactly reminds me-- you know, if you look at one or two or three or 13 cute animal videos on Instagram, then of course they keep coming up. And I am very fond of-- for reasons I think must be psychologically astute and very fond of, like rescue animals that are beyond hope. And then they love them until they're better. And so, you know, they always come in and if they're cats, they're like, or wolves or foxes or anything. They've been abandoned and hurt. They're just murderous. And then they show-- you know, they show the thing and then finally they're just like in somebody's lap. And that's, I think it's all of our lives. I'm sure it's yours too-- to some extent, but when somebody is asking you to visit and revisit and revisit when you were in the trap or run over on the side of the road and then gives you notes, it's got to be lived to be understood. And so, I'm not even saying they weren't useful, but it is unusual. It's like your very own therapist saying, yeah, Steve. Yeah, dig deeper. And then you do, and you're sobbing. And they go, actually, it's time for my next client. Thank you so much. I mean, you know, it's like that. Have you ever had that one?
Steve Kmetko:
We have to stop now.
Bronson Pinchot:
Yeah. Yes. And you know, they have to, but it's a very good time to be interviewed because it's all fresh and you know, it does put your, it does put your big boy pants on you. It does. It's good. Woo. But it is really reminds me of being, and I admire them so much-- you know, competition divers is so beautiful, isn't it? But it's like they do that final bounce and then somebody grabs the board and says, no, don't actually, there's something wrong with the water and you're already, you know. Yeah. It's a thing.
Steve Kmetko:
Bronson, how did you get in the business?
Bronson Pinchot:
I was-- I did a play at Yale in a little squash court. And it was an Enesco play, very difficult play called The Lesson, which was published in the forties. And it has had these undertones of Nazism and fascism and all kinds of stuff. And it was supposed to be funny at the same time. And the director who later became a very famous film director, wanted me, it was a cast of three me and two young ladies. And every rehearsal he would say, all right, so I want you to do the lines while, while you hump her. That's what I'm going to do. And this went on for days. And I finally said, this is not okay. I would get that as a 20-minute acting exercise, but we're on day three, we're opening in a week.
And he would say, well, just get down and start to grind. I said, I got, here's the thing, the posters are at the printer. The program is at the printer. And I know because I designed them both. And if you want this play to go on, you're going to have to leave. And I'm going to finish it. Higgledy-piggledy by myself, because I'm not doing any more humping while you sit there and watch. So, he left and we all looked at each other and said, let's make this work. And we did make it work. And a young fellow came to see it who was in music composition. And his teacher was Maury Yeston, who was writing incidental music for an off-Broadway play. And Maury said to his class, God, we're auditioning people and they're just not funny. I know there's someone right under foot right here.
That's funny. And his student said, I just saw this guy named Bronson Pinchot. And he said, great, I'll get him an audition. And he said, have him call me. So, I called him and he said, I don't even need to see you. He said, you're great, go down. So I went, did the audition in New York was for Tommy Tune and his casting director, they made me wait five hours because I was the charity case. But then I did the audition and they came way up and said, where the *** did you come from? Can I *** say?
Steve Kmetko:
Yes.
Bronson Pinchot:
Okay, so ***. So, they said, where the *** did you come from? And I said, I've been sitting in your lobby for five hours, I'm really hungry. And they said, well, you're really good too. So, the casting director, Mary Kaho, took me under her wing and she cast me in a play. And called The Poor Little Lambs, which was about the Yale Whiffenpoofs and the producers of Risky Business came to see it and cast me in risky business. And I was off.
Steve Kmetko:
And one thing led to another.
Bronson Pinchot:
It only took three movies, and then it was Beverly Hills Cop. I improvised in three movies back-to-back. And the improv is what stood out. So, they were having trouble casting this role in Beverly Hills Cop, who was then named Jack. And he was a typical 1984 character in a comedy in the sense that he was stereotypically gay. And his only reason for being was for Eddie to like, trounce him and men, and insult him. They said, you can't make it funny. I said really, really? I can't think why. And they said, can you think of anything? And I said, there's nothing, okay, let me see. So, I looked at it and finally the voice of an Israeli makeup lady that I'd had come to me. And I thought, I'm going to do it as Lily. So, I did it. And the director said, that's it. What would you call him? And I said, see and so we improvised it, and then the movie came out the day that it came out, I was walking up, do you know the Ralph's on Sunset?
Steve Kmetko:
Well, there's a probably more than one, but I know of a Ralph's--
Bronson Pinchot:
Ralph's at Sunset and Poinsettia--
Steve Kmetko:
In West Hollywood.
Bronson Pinchot:
Yeah, right. And a friend of mine said, go read Newsweek right now. I said, well, I'll have to go read it at the store. I can't afford it. So, I went and it said, A singular actor named Bronson Pinchot steals the movie. And I thought, huh, interesting. Okay. And as I was walking home, and I looked at the sidewalk recently, still like that covered with cracks and a car drove jumped the curb drove up on the sidewalk toward me. And I thought, well, here we go. And a bunch of teenagers jumped out and mobbed me. I thought they were going to kill me. And so that was it. And then from that came perfect strangers, not from the teenagers from the thing, but I always l love to say, because it's just true. And when cliches are true, you realize why they're so fun.
I always say, it wasn't an overnight sensation. I was a same day sensation. It came out, they jumped the sidewalk, and I was like, this can't be, but it just was, that's the way it was. And I was already on a sitcom, a crappy little sitcom without a very, very good license to say. And meanwhile, the producers of perfect strangers were saying, is it-- how's it going? And I was like, that's not really very good. And it tanked. And then they just said, come on. And I was it. We debuted in the top 10 and stayed there for a long, long time. And it was great in every way, except for the fact that I was 25. I didn't know how to be a person yet. Because I'd been on welfare my whole life. And then just not on welfare, just poor. And everybody was not just staring. They were saying things like, sign my girlfriend's breasts. And if I would demur with what I thought was great charm. they would then say that they would kill me. I mean, I didn't know what to do with that. I didn't know what to do with the money except spend every cent. And I didn't know what to do with people staring. Although one wonderful thing happened that did kind of ground me a little bit. Do you remember I love Juicy? It was on Melrose and it was this great place, one of the great place’s different fruits delicious--
Steve Kmetko:
Smoothies and things, yeah--
Bronson Pinchot:
Smoothies and things. And, it was just absolutely incredible. One of the first of its kind. So, it was all glass, and it must have been about 1986, 87. I just wanted it so badly. I'm crossing the street and every single face, it sounds conceited to say, but this is just what happened. Every single face at the window was smashed at the glass. Like, look. And I was, and I thought, Ugh, please just God. Ugh, can I just get some juice? So, I just said, calm down. And I went up to the Bart, it was tiny. There was a blonde woman with her back to me looking at the menu. So, it was such a tiny place. We were this close. I didn't have any idea who was blonde as all her long hair. And then she turned to look and see if maybe her partner was, she sensed a body. It was me. And she turned, so we were this close, and it was Catherine Deneuve. And I went and she went, ah. And so, from that moment, I was like, okay, you need to understand that this is a telegram from God telling you it's not their fault. And I wanted so badly to say, you don't know me, but this is really funny. But she was over me. But that was a great teller. Like Bronson, it's like, you can't even con you can't control it. Catherine Deneuve turned around and you made the same sound, and then she made your sound and now calm down and get over yourself. And that was really great.
Steve Kmetko:
I meet her several times. She is just breathtaking.
Bronson Pinchot:
She's amazing. And I would love to meet her someday and tell her the story because I'm sure that she would absolutely love it. Because at the same time, I used to pass Carol Burnett in some little place in Westwood, and I would-- you know, kind of go like, kind of drool with like, you're my comedy, my comedy goddess. And she would just look past me. And then she was at an upfront, we were doing the upfront for some year of Perfect Strangers, and she was in the first row. And I had written this comedy bit for Mark Linn-Baker and myself. And nobody got it. So, we're dying. But we always thought it was funny to die. It was, to us it was win-win. Either they get it or they don't get it. And that's even funnier. And it was 500 people there, silence except Carol, who was screaming at every joke, screaming because she genuinely thought it was funny.
And she knew that we were tanking and she knew that we thought it was funny that we were tanking. She's laughing and laughing, laughing. And afterwards she threw her arms around me and said, do you have any idea how much I love you? I said Well, no, because every time I see you in at the Westwood Marquee, and I'm like, on my knees with worship for you, you look right through me. And she said, I've never seen you in my life, darling. And I said, I see you every single Saturday. And she's like, oh darling, how can that be? You know, so you don't even know. And then we did a play together. And, and she said to me once, how do you come up with this stuff? Because we were doing a funny song. And, and I was coming up with physical stuff. I said, are you serious? She said, how do you come up with this stuff? I said, watching you when I was 12. What are you nuts? You know, you know better than anybody. It's like, it's so wonderfully. No one would believe the how the ships passed in the dark. Because she swore, she was and then she was saying, where do you, where's, what's your inspiration? I was like I'm holding onto her. I'm, you because she's like all the really great people. She was so truly humble. There's crappy imitation, humble, which makes us gag. And then there's true humility, which is breathtaking, breathtaking every time
Steve Kmetko:
She called, I interviewed her once for something we were doing at CBS and I interviewed her at TV City and she made a joke while she was answering one of the questions about her husband being buried in a, a box over against the wall. And then before we could air the piece, she called me and said, could you take that part out?
Bronson Pinchot:
Bless her heart.
Steve Kmetko:
And I said, yes, sure, of course we can. Why? Well, you know, he died not that long ago. And I think it might be in bad taste. So yeah, we took it right out. But you know--
Bronson Pinchot:
You'd do anything for her. And you'd, I personally would do anything for anybody with a heart, anything, anything. But there's so many-- you know, people with armor on in show business who come at you with that-- you know, just like hack you with the sword. And then you're like, well, I won't give you the time of day. Won't but she, I remember we were doing this play, and at lunchtime I always stayed behind. I didn't go out because I wanted to go over my choreography and whatever. And she would never go out. Because she just, I don't know why she'd eat her little egg salad sandwich, teeny little egg salad sandwich. And she's eating once. And she looks at me and I'm sitting there like this, and she's sitting there like this we're, and she said, you are an introvert who does a good imitation of an extrovert. And I said, oh, and how would you know that? And she said, takes one to no one darling. And then she went back to her sandwich.
Steve Kmetko:
Yep, that sounds right on.
Bronson Pinchot:
I mean, it gives me chills even now, because it's like, oh my goodness, that's not even a conversation. That's just-- you know, she's knighting me. And she was absolutely right. I'm so introverted. And for every minute I spend on a red carpet. I need about 16 hours in sensory deprivation because it's so phony. And it's so like, it's just like the difference between checking texts on your phone and watching Lawrence of Arabia. It just uses the whole battery. And I think of her every time to this day, I think of her every day anyway. But it's like I mean the, and then there's some people who appear to thrive on it. I don't know how.
Steve Kmetko:
I don't know how either,
Bronson Pinchot:
I don't know how, it's literally like living on Lucky Charms. Like where's the protein? Where's the fiber? Where's the nutrition? But anyway, or maybe they don't and they're just, just good at, I don't know. I was never good at showbiz. It's my--
Steve Kmetko:
Downfall.
Bronson Pinchot:
Maybe
Steve Kmetko:
Your soft spot.
Bronson Pinchot:
No, because I'm really happy that I've gotten to be this age and I'm, I've still got my personhood. It's no, I think maybe I would've said that 20 years ago, but I don't like it. I don't find anything valuable or nurturing or healthy in the darling air kiss thing. And I am still working from a really strong place inside myself. And people who get me, get me and young actors say to me, how do you do that? How do you do that? Tell me how to do that. And I love to mentor them. Nobody ever says to me, God, don't you get tired of being a big-- you know, nobody ever says that to me. They, they all ask me, how do I do that? Which I love. And I never liked it and never went toward it.
Steve Kmetko:
And we'll be right back.
Bronson Pinchot:
I remember early in my career, literally I was like five minutes after Beverly Hills cop. I met Carrie Fisher and how many times have you interviewed her?
Steve Kmetko:
Oh, only once. Oh. And it scared the hell out of me.
Bronson Pinchot:
Oh really? Okay. Well, she did have, but anyway, I saw the witty, the witty alluring she was, and I just was like, gunk. So, she takes me to a party and then she goes off to the bathroom. So, it is 1985. You know what, going to the bathroom, it wasn't to pee. She goes to the bathroom and the next thing I know, I am standing at a table covered with priceless Tiffany Lamps. And Elton John says to me, eh, that's all right, isn't it? And I'm like, what is happening? And then Rod Stewart comes up, and I, you know, the whole thing's out of body. I never did see Carrie again that night, but later on we're standing waiting for our cars. And Barry Dialysis says, do you have $5 to lend me for the valet? And I never got it back. And that's 40 years ago. So, I'm thinking that $5 is worth at least.
But anyway, I did see Carrie again. And she said to me, bro, let's go out to dinner. I said, okay. So, we go out to dinner and she we're in this super, super fancy old school. You know, you could hear a pin drop Chinese restaurant in Beverly Hills, and we haven't even been served yet. And she says, Bronson don't have a crush on me. And I said, that was like Carol saying, I was like, we haven't even discussed that yet. And I said why not? And she said, because I'm a manic depressive and you don't need that. And I said, oh, I think I would not mind that. So, she stood up and she pulled her dress over her head. And she had mini mouse right over her genitals, a little pair of panties with mini mouse right over her right there.
Steve Kmetko:
The JJ.
Bronson Pinchot:
The JJ. And she had her dress over her head. And she said, see? And the owners came and dragged us away and shoved us out the back door and I never saw her again. But the thing isn't that adorable that she did that? She just said, don't. And then she showed me why. And we got heaved out of a restaurant. While I laughed so hard that I couldn't even stand up, I was like, what's happening? I'm getting heaped out of a restaurant. Gosh. Because Carrie Fisher has her dress over her head. And God bless her. I know in heaven. She's screaming at the story because the best stories are not added to or subtracted from. They're just, this is what happened. That's what happened.
Steve Kmetko:
They're just presented
Bronson Pinchot:
As I say, you're not shaping, you're not writing, you're simply reporting. That's what happened. And it, so I treasure it. I treasure it. And that morning, my love, my younger brother thinking I'd get lucky and that she wasn't taking me to dinner to tell me not to have a crush on her. She was taking me to dinner and that we, something else would happen. He came to my apartment and shoved a princess Leah toothbrush under the door with a note that said for tomorrow morning, you can't write this stuff.
Steve Kmetko:
You can try.
Bronson Pinchot:
You cannot, you know better than anyone, you can't embellish the *** that happens. Can you say ***?
Steve Kmetko:
Yes.
Bronson Pinchot:
You can say ***.
Steve Kmetko:
Yes.
Bronson Pinchot:
Okay. ***. Alright. We need to tell them--
Steve Kmetko:
Did you ever see--
Bronson Pinchot:
Whoever's going to see this, that we have the same hair? And that seems like a good omen to me.
Steve Kmetko:
Okay.
Bronson Pinchot:
Okay?
Steve Kmetko:
Then II won't change mine.
Bronson Pinchot:
Well, I don't think you could. Because this has been, the reason I'm telling you that is not because I don't think you, you can, but I know that when you have a cowlick this strong, there's nothing else you can do. Because this is the same haircut I had when I was five and went to Sunday school. There is nothing else you can do, right?
Steve Kmetko:
Don't you go to Sunday school anymore.
Bronson Pinchot:
Dude that s-curve, I know that s-curve --
Steve Kmetko:
That just happens.
Bronson Pinchot:
It's like there. And if they want to make you look like Rod Stewart, it's going to take an hour and a half. Do you know what I mean?
Steve Kmetko:
Yeah.
Bronson Pinchot:
Actually, when I did Beverly Hills Cop, Axel F the director who was a sweetheart, never directed a movie in his life. He decided he wanted my hair to look like Rod Stewart. Well, I had to use a wig and they forgot to have one made, which takes six weeks. And they forgot. So about three days before the film, they take me to a wig place and they said, we're going to have to go into that bin over there. And I said, oh, that's going to be great. And they pull out this thing that looked like a dead possum that animal control had thrown in a dumpster. And they dyed it and they put it on my head and it didn't even fit. It kept lifting up and back.
And the hair stylist, who was wonderful, she did, who's that? Ryan Gosling. And she did his hair in Barbie. And, you know, it's her, that's her work. And she said, can you, can you, is there any way you could just keep doing that during every take? And I said, because, and she said, because otherwise they're going to have to CGI it or it'll end up on camera and everyone will know that we used a secondhand wig, please, Bronson. So, I said, yes, okay, so I'm just going to make it a character thing. So, I did that. I say, and I never saw the movie. Because I don't watch myself at all, ever for any reason. The only time I'll do it is for post-production sound when they have to correct something. And then I have to watch myself and then I go home and take a bath in muriatic acid because it's just, I just made a promise to myself at the very beginning of my career.
I was working with people who you could tell, had watched themselves. And that's not something I want to carry around. I don't want that yolk on my shoulders. I don't know what's my good side, my bad side. I don't know what anything and I don't want to know. And the people that have to carry that around are, are our, there's enough, we have enough crap to carry around. I don't want to know that, you know, anything.
Steve Kmetko:
How did you get that way?
Bronson Pinchot:
Because I worked with movie stars who were so hyperconscious of what they did that was charming and what they did. You have to be willing, so obvious. But you, here's my motto that I developed at that time. And my motto is, when it comes to acting or anything on camera, do your best to inhabit it fully and then forget about it. Because There's nothing you can do. So, my motto is, live it and leave it. And the what makes that possible is don't watch yourself. Don't critique. Don't say, I wish they'd used a different take. Just walk away. Walk away. And that has worked for me because if you want to really, really dig you, you are going to have to look ugly. Because you're going to have to do ugly crying if you really want to dig. And you're going to have to not care. I mean, you know, my favorite actors, Spencer Tracy, he didn't care. He didn't care. He even said once, I don't even know what acting is. And I agree with him. I don't know what it is. Every time I walk onto a set, I'm thinking it'll come to me. But I don't know what it is. And I don't know that anyone thinks it is, but there are plenty of people who do.
You know how like every cookie recipe starts with that-- you know, starts with eggs and flour and brown sugar, whatever. And then you start to make, where are you going to make whatever, you're going to make? It's got that base. I don't believe in a base. I don't have any idea what I'm going to make. I don't know whether it's going to be meringue or roast beef or anything. I don't want to know because the camera wants to see you come up with it. And that is what I like. And so, it's always like gulp. And I love that. I love that experience. And I think the camera does too. It really looks like, because right now I'm answering your question and I don't know what I'm going to say. I'm looking into your face and I see that you're really listening. So, that's galvanizing. And then I'm looking into my own brain and thinking, what's the answer? And that's galvanizing. But as you know, but the audience doesn't know. I had said to the producer, I don't want to chat with Steve beforehand because then whatever we talk about is almost like regurgitated. And I hope he understands this is a good thing--
Steve Kmetko:
But I feel that much the same way.
Bronson Pinchot:
You see what I mean? And so--
Steve Kmetko:
I like the spontaneity.
Bronson Pinchot:
A conversation is a conversation. And you know, if you do a talk show as you know, and I know, but many people don't know, they do a thing called a pre-interview. And I always say, I know that's your job, but I want to tell you so that you're not surprised that any funny story I tell you in the pre-interview, I will not tell on the air because that's regurgitated. And if I'm going to do-- you know, I used to love to do Letterman and I was like, Bronson Pinchot and David Letterman can have an amazing conversation about lint. I do not need to tell him the funny stories I told you. And I just want you to know so you're not blindsided. I'm not retelling anything. So, I got on his show once and he just decided that night he saw his image on the monitor and he said, oh my God, it's not just that I'm going bald, but there's a little island of hair here. And then like a little strip of baldness. And then the, so at that time I had black hair and it was they were, you know, patchy spots. And so, they would take this stuff that was like black crayon and fill it in. And I watched him do this hilarious off the cuff monologue about taking stock of some.
So, I go on and he has this little blue card-- you know, with the questions. And I said, can I see those? And I said how did you get started in the business? Nah what was Bette Midler like? Eh, they say, so, I threw them all away and I kept one and I said, let's talk about my baldness. So, I have a bald butted back, which I don't cover anymore. But anyway, I had all this black cray on it and I dragged my fingernails through it and then I gouged them over the card. I said, see what I do? And that's what we talked about. And it was fantastic. Get the blue cards out of my face. I don't, you know, I don't, I always say to people, if they've got a sense of humor, I say, doing a pre-interview is like having pre-ex, like I know we're going to have sex tonight, so if you have five minutes, meet me at Starbucks. Alright. So what I was basically thinking is I-- you know, play with your boobs a little bit and then kind of like move down at I don't want No, no, no. What the hell? Pre-Interview. Pre-ex pre argument. How about a pre argument? I know that sometime in the next 48 hours, Steve, we're probably going to have a tiff. So, let's just practice.
What is that? Actually, that's a bad example because you could have a great pre argument that would grow into an argument. You really could. What do you mean you don't like the lint on my shirt? What the hell? How dare you? So pre argument's actually a great idea. Pre argument's a brilliant idea. I'm going to have to try that. But everything else is like, what do you mean pre are you joking? And that's why I also will do anything. When we did the True romance, I was playing Saul Ruben's personal assistant, and Saul, God bless his heart, decided that we needed to do extensive improvisation where he just had me go get his Diet Coke and run errands. And I thought, anything you want to do, we're going to do on screen. But as a result, God bless him, he was persistent. He believed in it. So, he would come to my dressing room door and knock on the thing, and I would just get down on the floor.
So, he couldn't even see my shadow. And I'm thinking, this is wonderful, because I actually used it later in the big scene where they're all shooting and I'm in the middle of it. Just, I was like, I don't want to improvise, but I don't want to say no to Saul, so I'm just going to hide from Saul. And you know, I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings and I hope I never do. But sometimes people want to pre, it's like, no, if a camera's rolling, let's improvise. That's my thing. But you want to like order me around so that I know what it's like to be your assistant? No. And I always say, what was that movie that's Kim Basinger I think did nine and a half weeks or something. Where they just have sex the whole time.
Steve Kmetko:
Right.
Bronson Pinchot:
So sometimes as a joke was--
Steve Kmetko:
Mickey Rourke in that?
Bronson Pinchot:
I think he was.
Steve Kmetko:
I think he was.
Bronson Pinchot:
With his old face, I think two faces ago. So, and wherever the face is, it would make some incredible high protein jerky. You know, I say, so anyway, a line that I used to say, which used to people didn't understand was they'd say, could you do the dance of joy from perfect strangers? And I would say, I will, but you have to be under five or over 85. And then I'll do anything. I'll do the dance of joy nude. But if you're in between those ages, my question for you is if you ran into Kim Basinger, would you ask her to do the sex scene from nine and a half weeks? And they just, it's so off the wall, they don’t know what to say. And again, win-win. Because if they get it, we're best friends. If they don't get it, I'm in heaven. This is so weird. You know what I mean? Just say to somebody in a parking lot in Scranton It's great. You either hit the bullseye on the dart board or it just flies out the room. And either way, it's fine by me.
Steve Kmetko:
Bronson?
Bronson Pinchot:
Yes baby?
Steve Kmetko:
You have great teeth. Can I just tell you--
Bronson Pinchot:
Oh, thank you so much.
Steve Kmetko:
They're incredible. I've been watching them.
Back with more in a moment.
Bronson Pinchot:
I'll tell you a story about my teeth.
Steve Kmetko:
Okay.
Bronson Pinchot:
They used to be, when I was in college, I had so many extra teeth in my mouth. Besides all the besides the wisdom teeth. There were like three or four others that were excess to requirements. And as a result, all my teeth were, were crisscrossed like that. And it my mother, in typical fashion, we didn't have any money. And so, but she took a mortgage out on the house to have them straightened because my then girlfriend had said, you know, you better not ever open your mouth if you ever get on camera. Because All you're going to play is immigrants with those teeth.
Steve Kmetko:
Thank you.
Bronson Pinchot:
And God bless her. This is true. Because there is a--you know how wonderful the universe is? The last I heard of her, she was she had Bell's palsy and, and was 300 pounds and performing in cabaret. But not the play cabaret just a cabaret, like the kind where they don't even pick up the cigarette butts. Yeah. That's all you'll ever do, but don't ever, ever show your teeth. Okay, hon. But I fixed them, but I did play immigrants and I had a fine time doing it.
Steve Kmetko:
Yes, you did.
Bronson Pinchot:
And I still get messages from people that say, my family came over from Iran in the eighties and we were like, oh my God, nobody understands us. And then they stumbled into the show and said, oh, there's hope. That's not how it really is. People aren't kind to us, but there's a fantasy situation where they are kind to him and he's not, he's the quote unquote outsider, but he's actually got, he's actually calling the shots in a weird way just through the kindness of his heart. So, I still get that today, that these immigrants that came over and I based the character on my grandfather who came over from Italy with no money and no English. And so, I think God, wouldn't he love that? Wouldn't he love to know that waves of immigrants afterward particularly got something great out of the show because they were so disoriented. And then I was channeling him and he'd been so disoriented. I mean, you know, that's what makes it amazing. That's what makes it amazing.
Steve Kmetko:
Is it my understanding or this is how I perceive it, talking to you that--
Bronson Pinchot:
This is a fun interview by the way. And they're rare.
Steve Kmetko:
Okay.
Bronson Pinchot:
They're rare. It's a great skill.
Steve Kmetko:
Thank you.
Bronson Pinchot:
It's a a great skill. Because You know, most of them, where's the camera? Is that a camera?
Steve Kmetko:
Yes.
Bronson Pinchot:
You see how old school I am? I just had to ask because remember when they were, they were--
Steve Kmetko:
Huge.
Bronson Pinchot:
They were Huge.
Steve Kmetko:
Yes.
Steve Kmetko:
90% of interviews are somebody basically saying to you without saying it, okay, I didn't do any homework. So, tell me, how did you get the name Bronson Pinchot show? Tell me what's Eddie Murphy like? And it's not an interview. This is an interview and I'm really enjoying it.
Steve Kmetko:
Thank you very much. I got a, a note card once. I'll just throw this in as an aside from Bette Davis, after I interviewed her and she sent me a card that said, dear Mr. Kmetko, you are really good. Thanks for the interview.
Bronson Pinchot:
Yeah, that's an understatement.
Steve Kmetko:
Bette Davis.
Bronson Pinchot:
It's an understatement. Because Your eyes are so alive. And sometimes what you get during an interview, not that I'm criticizing, is they're thinking about the very next question they're going to ask. They're not even listening to what you're saying. And it's, I don't fault them because they, they're somebody somewhere said, you better get these six questions in and it better be three minutes long. But she knew what she was talking about.
Steve Kmetko:
Thank you.
Bronson Pinchot:
Oh, you're so sincere and adorable. And you've got my hair, which is-- you know, with that--
Steve Kmetko:
You can have it back when we're done.
Bronson Pinchot:
No, no, no. But that's called mirroring except you didn't do it on purpose. But you know, the way to make somebody trust you, they say is to mirror them.
Steve Kmetko:
Right.
Bronson Pinchot:
And then you come in and there's --
Steve Kmetko:
I've seen enough strings.
Bronson Pinchot:
Huh?
Steve Kmetko:
I've seen enough strings.
Bronson Pinchot:
Yeah. And the funny thing is, when there's, what do I want to call it, unintentional mirroring. You're like, aw, yeah. Plus, we've been around.
Steve Kmetko:
Oh, God.
Bronson Pinchot:
No. But we've been around in that and-- you know, there's a reason for that either because we refuse to go home either because we refuse to go away or because we do it well.
Steve Kmetko:
Well, it says Still Here Hollywood that's.
Bronson Pinchot:
Well, I just realized that's true. But you know, I did a podcast with Dear Sweet Stephen Baldwin recently, and we're having a very nice time. And it becomes clear to me, he doesn't realize we did a movie together 30 years ago. Oh, so you talk about twinkle because he's talking about my career in chronological order, and then he gets to the year that we did the movie together and I'm having so much fun. And he said, God, your face is so full of glee. It's wonderful. I said, well, we did a movie together. And then he did this wonderful thing where he like retraced his whole life and went, oh my God. We did. It was really fun. But you were about to ask me a question and I interrupted.
Steve Kmetko:
No, that's okay. I like your--
Bronson Pinchot:
Do you remember the question?
Steve Kmetko:
Hell no. Let's see.
Bronson Pinchot:
What can we recover it through--
Steve Kmetko:
No, no, one of the things I, well, it was, there have been several times, but I don't like interrupting people when they're talking to me.
Bronson Pinchot:
But that's another great technique. That's very rare. But I want to get back to your question if we can.
Steve Kmetko:
Okay. I was going to ask this earlier when we were talking about Carrie Fisher. And I got the distinct impression from you that you were very impressed by her and very--
Bronson Pinchot:
She was so witty,
Steve Kmetko:
Wasn't she?
Bronson Pinchot:
She was so--
Steve Kmetko:
That's what scared me about sitting down to interview her. I thought this woman could cut me to shreds.
Bronson Pinchot:
But she wouldn't have. She wouldn't have. She wouldn't have. She had a big heart, you know, that she had a big heart. She was so witty and she was so effortlessly witty. She was almost, almost witty in spite of herself. She was oozing. I said this to Julia Roberts. I was doing a benefit performance with Julia Roberts. I wasn't, she was way across the room. It's a gigantic sound stage. And there were 30 of us there, and it was a benefit performance to raise money for the La Shakespeare Festival. And everybody was, I mean, Tom Hanks was there. You and Conor McGregor was there. Helen Hunt was there. And then I'm sitting next to Keanu Reeves. We're doing much to do about nothing. And Julia's way across the room, I've never been introduced to her. I don't know that I ever will be introduced to her. So, Keanu leans over. I wish I did a great Keanu imitation and start to mumble something. And I had never, not even been introduced to him, but he starts to mumble something and I realized to my horror and delight that he's giving me extensive direction on how he wants me to play my part, because I was playing his henchman.
Now, I don't know what my face looked like, but the next thing I know, because I was listening and trying to take in all the facets of him, directing me on how to play anything, particularly comedy. And I'm just taking it in and looking at my options, which are laugh, be polite, commit suicide. You know, all of a sudden, I look up and Julia Roberts is standing right here. She doesn't say anything. She offers me her arm as if we're going to go to the opera. That didn't take any, I, so I get up and I take her arm and she starts to walk me away and her eyes are like chandeliers. She's so full of glee. And when we get out of earshot, she says, can I just tell you, there's a lot of interesting stuff going on in this room, Bronson. A lot. But nothing can come close to you.
I'm going to guess listening to Keanu Reeves give you direction at length. And I said, yes. And she said, that's what I thought. It's the funniest two shot I've ever seen in my life. It's genius. And now I'm going to take you back and deliver you back to Keanu Reeves, Bronson. So, she delivers me back. What Keanu was telling me was that wherever he went on stage, wherever he chose to go, in the genius of his instinctual, comedic prowess, I was to go with him. That's what he was telling me. But he was telling me line by line in the play, much to do about nothing. There are four or six songs that are Elizabethan songs. And that we had James Taylor, who had decided he was going to do 13 or 14 songs. And we had been asked, every time James plays a song, you all will dance.
So, I danced for like three. And then on the seventh one, I just stopped dancing. Then she appears like a genie Julia, Bronny. When it's charity we dance. And I said, I'm not dancing. She said, well, you're dancing with me. So, she starts to dance. I'm like, well, how am I going to say no? Meanwhile, his direction to me, I decided the best thing to do was to hue to it with every fiber of my being. The audience found this very, very, very amusing because I decided that being close to him meant a quarter of an inch. Wherever he went, I went with him a quarter of an inch away to where we were doing like that walk that the monkeys do. Here we come. And they were like, right. So, I was glued to him. I was glued to him. It was kind of like the directorial version of Mickey Mouse in the Sorcerer's Apprentice.
Be careful what you wish for. So, the audience is thinking it's maybe the funniest thing they've ever seen. Partially because it might have been, and partially because he was steaming, like, no, I don't want you near me anymore. Because people think it's funny and they don't think I'm funny. Because they were sane and they had eyes. But the some they got something, they knew something was up and I would not stop. Because I had been told by one of the titans of comedy how to play my role. So, I did it as told, and there is Julia in the corner, like her eyes. She, it looked, she looked like a crystal shop. Her eyes were, were so full of sparkles. So, I follow him around and follow him around.
But what I was getting to is well, we were talking about something. I mean, Kim Basinger, we were talking about that. So finally, we're done and everybody's milling around and she comes up to me and says, that's one of the most fantastically bratty things I've ever seen in my life. And you really took a s's person admitted into, he took a, well, I'd like to see an Al's purse. That'd be fashionable. But you took a silk purse, made it into a Bronny, you took a so's ear and made it into a silk purse. And then she shakes her head around, so she looks even more beautiful. And she says, am I anything like what you thought I'd be? And I said, nope. And she said, how so? And I said, I thought your, the twinkle in your eye was movie star twinkle, and you were born with it, but it obviously comes from you being the most observant person in the room.
And she said, are you trying to make me fall in love with you? Who gets these experiences? We, it was a real conversation. I was, I was saying, I get it now. I just thought you were born with it. And she was saying, nobody ever gets that. And it was marvelous. And the fact she came over and gave me her arm and said, you taking direction from that is brilliant. And I just wanted you to know. Then she gives me back, she puts me back in the snake pit. She could have taken me over there, but it was wonderful. All the wonderful.
Steve Kmetko:
She's very good at that kind of stuff.
Bronson Pinchot:
She's, you know, what she gained in me was a lifelong, I won't hear anything except praise for her. Because that was amazing. It was witty, it was incisive. It was bratty. And it was also humane because she was, it was everything. It was like, I'm going to rescue you, but then I'm going to put you back. And then she came over later leaned over so that we were staring right at her cleavage and said, you know, as this rehearsal drags on, I wonder if Bronson may be finding me more alluring. And Keanu you might be finding me less alluring. I don't know. She walked away. She's just, you know, she's wonderful.
Steve Kmetko:
She is wonderful. I did an interview with her in London when she was promoting Notting Hill.
Bronson Pinchot:
Oh yeah.
Steve Kmetko:
And I had just finished interviewing Hugh Grant.
Bronson Pinchot:
We were in a, now he's a handful. He looks like he'd be a handful.
Steve Kmetko:
Yeah, he is a handful.
Bronson Pinchot:
But I mean, in a, you know, like right on the razor's edge, like, delightful. But like, you wouldn't want it on a bad day.
Steve Kmetko:
Right.
Bronson Pinchot:
Right?
Steve Kmetko:
Yep.
Bronson Pinchot:
Yeah.
Steve Kmetko:
There are some people you just don't want to cross.
Bronson Pinchot:
But then you can imagine becoming best friends over 10 years and then you're on that side of it. But yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Steve Kmetko:
Well, Julia was coming in after that interview. We were doing her next, and I had interviewed her, oh. At least half a dozen times. And we just hit it off from the first time from Pretty Woman. We hit it off. And I said to my camera man, because I knew this was going to happen. I said be rolling when Julia walks in. And sure enough, she walked in, snuck up behind me and threw her arms around me. Well, you know, I knew we'd get that video. And my camera guy said, how did you know she was going to do that? Lucky guess just a lucky guess.
Bronson Pinchot:
Yes. And also, your good instinct, which is why you're so good at this. You just knew. That's what's good about don't anyone ever tell anybody. Don't ever tell anyone. Or either of us tell me what's by the books. Just roll, just roll. Because it's her. Now you wouldn't have done that. You wouldn't have dared do that with Hugh. I just think his wit is delightful. But I would not want to be on the bad end, end of it, ever. It would be devastating. And, but it's what makes it fun. I mean, it really is like watching brain surgery. I think he's wonderful. But then there are people that I've adored all my life, and you work with him and you think, oh my God, you're poisonous. So, I'll go back to being distant. I mean like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Steve Kmetko:
I'd love to ask you to name names.
Bronson Pinchot:
Oh, I know you would. Well, I'll tell you what, as I write this memoir. I keep saying to my manager I'll write. And then I walked on the set and there was, and then I just put the word in Capitals redacted. And she says, what the hell is that? And I say, oh, I'm going to make a file, which I'll give to you, and all the other people I hope survive me. And that can be in the addition that comes out after I'm dead. And she says, well, you'll certainly, you'll tell me, won't you? She's got a cigar. It's great. I mean, if I tried to play Susan. Susan Ferris is her name. If I tried to play her in a movie, they'd say, stop, stop, stop. But Bronson honestly, I mean, she's got tattoos and a cigar. And just say to me, I don't know *** if I can play this character. I'll show you what she does. Go ahead.
Steve Kmetko:
I don't know *** if I can play this character.
Bronson Pinchot:
Oh boy, get out. And then I go back. I mean, she's just adorable. And whenever I do a red carpet, she's standing three feet behind me, like, somebody else's bodyguard, not mine. Because you better do this interview and you better be charming and you better not say you are getting-- you know, asked the same questions. It's just not. And she stands there. I mean, she really stands there. Like, it's hilarious. It's, I mean, it's a duo act. Because she's got a heart like a marshmallow. But anyway no. She says, well, you're going to tell me, aren't you? And I'll say no, because if you ever in a-- you know, there's so 40% of it is too good and too, too risky to ever tell. It's unbelievable. The stuff that's in it is unbelievable. The stuff that's in it is unbelievable because you can't believe it wasn't written by Charles Dickens. I mean, my first memory is my father trying to kill my mother and basically succeeding, except at the last second, she got him off and got us out of the house. And that was the best thing that happened in my childhood. But--
Steve Kmetko:
The best thing?
Bronson Pinchot:
It was rough because my father was the most enthusiastic and ingenious abuser that you can imagine. And he did it right in front of the kids. And she always did a somehow a funny punchline about it after the police dragged him away. That made us laugh, even though we were crying. And that was like a masterclass in no matter what, you have to put a button on it and the button has to be funny or you're just going to die. And yeah.
Steve Kmetko:
I'm sorry, Bronson, this interrupt.
Bronson Pinchot:
No, you mustn't be sorry. Because it's like saying to the diamond, I'm sorry that lasers came at you and gave you facets.
Steve Kmetko:
One time when I got fired from E Julia contacted me and said, if there's anything I can do to reverse this she was so sweet.
Bronson Pinchot:
I see, you're just now, you're making no, I couldn't love her anymore, but that's beautiful.
Steve Kmetko:
Yeah. She sent me flowers. Yeah, she was just the best. She gave me some of my best interviews and what was really for, I've been trying to get her now, but I can't get through her publicist. Because I'd love to have her come sit here. But--
Bronson Pinchot:
See, that confirms to me what that confirms what I felt, you know? But also, when we went to dinner that night. But, and it's every one of these stars on all their starry friends and for reasons that are just known only to her, she took her big purse and she plopped it on the chair next to her and said, for no reason to nobody. That's so that nobody sits here, but Bronson, he's the only person in this room, that could possibly make me laugh. Oh, veal. I mean, she's just a brat and just fantastic.
Steve Kmetko:
When I first interviewed her, the first thing was Pretty Woman. And I had seen it the night before. And I walked in and I said, just as she was sitting down, I said, you know, anybody ever tell you have the world's greatest smile. She smiled through the whole interview. She said, no, I can't stop. Which is exactly what I wanted anyway.
Bronson Pinchot:
When and she's so-- you know, you can feel it. You, you remember the fir all, remember the first time you see her, you think that just can't be any more accessible and twinkly. And as I said to her, is it just, you're just, you got the twinkle, but it's not because you're just putting it on. And we all know people that can put it on really well, they could put it on really well. I keep seeing Keanu, you know, visiting dead children and or dying. And then everybody says how soulful he is. And I think, well, if he's so soulful, why did he give me direction for 43 minutes without reading the room. You know, no, I mean, I actually admire him for that. And, but you know anyway, but she's the real thing. There are people that can, I think they're very scary. They can adopt the twinkle, woo. And then you get to see them and it's just like a piece of jewelry. But she's got it. Yeah. It's great to be able to talk about her without even meaning to, because it's not, like you said, who's the most interesting, you know? No, we just, it just came out. So that's kind of fun. Hope she sees, learns about it. Go ahead.
Steve Kmetko:
I hope so too. You can tell her, you know. Steve's doing this podcast. He'd love to have you as a guest. What's the favorite movie you've ever done?
Bronson Pinchot:
True Romance.
Steve Kmetko:
How come?
Bronson Pinchot:
Because I had not had an opportunity to do what I was trained to do in acting school until that time. And by that time, it was Beverly Hills Cop, and then six and a half years of Perfect Strangers. And then finally, I have a role where I can speak in my own voice and do what I was born to do, which is to, you know, Tony Scott said to me a million times, you're not sneaking funny stuff in, are you? And I said, no, but the performance is funny. But it's, it's funny because the character clearly is calling on his sense of the absurd, the absurd quality of the moment to walk the razor's edge of a very upsetting moment. And I'm so proud of it because it's-- you know, I'm not kidding around. But it's also funny and it's also very sad.
And that's what I was born to do. I wasn't entirely born to do pure comedy, and I wasn't, certainly wasn't born to do Eugene O'Neill and just be terribly-- you know, people that really are great Eugene O'Neill, Vanessa Redgrave. I mean, you've seen her on stage and it's like wipes, you know, it, it wipes the, the, the floor with any, you know, she comes from a place so intensely deep. But I'll tell you a funny story. When she did Orpheus Descending in New York, she stayed at the apartment of Ted Mann, who used to run Circle in the Square. And then I did a play at Circle in the Square shortly afterwards. And all her stuff was still there in her bedroom and the bathroom. And I revered her so much. I revered her so much that I used to, part of my preparation was I would sit on the floor in the hallway outside her bedroom, just, just trying to remember what she brought to every performance, which is this. She's reaching down through the, this crust of the earth and the molten nickel to the essence of pain. And, and it's just astonishing to see. So later I did a play with a wonderful actress who actually had been her personal assistant for a while. And I said, you, you were Vanessa Redgrave's personal assistant. I love her. And she said, yeah, didn't you stay in Ted Man's apartment right after she was there? And, I said, yes. And she said, yeah. She says, you took her towels.
I said, no, I didn't take her towels. And I remember my girlfriend joining me there for some weeks, and I remember my girlfriend, typical, I mean, it's like great lines. She had two great lines in her life. One of them was, oh my God, these are the cheapest. When did she get her beauty supplies CVS? That's the first thing she said, the other thing she said that was genius was I saw this guy who was high on fentanyl or something outside my house in Malibu, and he climbed up like Spider-Man and was kicking the glass. And I with his-- you know, like backwards, like a donkey. And I thought. So, I run upstairs. By that time, he's gotten up there, I had said to my girlfriend a million times, do not sleep with the windows up and slept at the windows up. The guy's already over her.
Literally over her, while all the dogs are wagging their tails. So, I was wearing this skin tight orange shirt with a little blue anchor on it, and that becomes important. So, I said out, out, out. And I didn't know what else to say. I just backed him out till we were around the balcony. And he said, gimme your shirt. And I thought, all right. I took it off and gave it to him. And he said, now let me through the house. I said, no. So, he jumps off the balcony and staggers away, and then we call the police. And by this time, I'm like this. And she's like this. They gave her one of those little blankets. So, you know, the completely unimpressed cop is like, all right, you know what he's wear, what was he wearing? I said, that's easy. My orange t-shirt. Orange t-shirt. About what time was it? I said, it was like, what about nine? My girlfriend is like, she is in shock. And then he goes, okay, what color hair? And I said, kind of like nasty skanky blonde. And my girlfriend says, wait, wait, go back, go back, go back, go back, go back, go back, two pages. Okay. The shirt, it was more of a terracotta and she was a photographer in her defense. But isn't that effing genius? And the cop just is does the most, give me that pen. Just say it was more of a terracotta. And I'll show you. He was a comedy genius. Go ahead.
Steve Kmetko:
What color was the shirt?
Bronson Pinchot:
No, your line is, it was more of a terracotta. Oh, I'm the cop, alright. Just take a second and reset. Okay, go ahead.
Steve Kmetko:
It was more of a terracotta.
Bronson Pinchot:
And he looks at me and I'm like, I know it's genius, isn't it? The whole thing. He was born to do the, the dead stare. It was and I said to her afterwards, so let me get this straight. So, there's this drug fueled crazy person with, I later found out he had broken his ankle as he jumped off the bed with a broken ankle--
Steve Kmetko:
Just like John Wilkes Booth.
Bronson Pinchot:
Like John Wilkes Booth. Lovely staggering down the beach in my t-shirt with the, the, the crazy ankle and obviously high on drugs. And so, you're picturing two cops saying to themselves, that might be him. And then the other cop going, yeah, but it's, is that terracotta or is it more like vermilion? I said, that does not happen. Nobody cares. But it's, I still think it's funny. It was more of a terror. What I, that's my kind of humor. Like, let, and she wanted him to go back two pages so she could give him that piece of wisdom.
Steve Kmetko:
You were so perfectly cast. My favorite movie of yours is First Wives Club. You were so perfectly cast as a foil for those heavyweights. That I just, it was just wonderful to watch you with Bette and Diane.
Bronson Pinchot:
You know, I finally saw a scene of it by accident and I agree with you. I had never seen it. And they were doing on Entertainment tonight, they were doing a, a new feature they have, which is called then and now. And they just-- you know, played scenes of mine starting with risky business and going all the way through last year. And they just get your kind of whatever free association in real time. So, I saw it, I was like, God, that's funny. Hell, but I'll tell you my favorite story that happened on that. What? Give me some little thing. Give me some little thing. Because it was, it was Maggie Smith and her clutch purse. No, no, no. Gimme a pillow. I'll show you what she did. Because This is what pros do. Thank you. So, no one ever introduced me to Maggie Smith.
She was just sitting next to me when we with a little clutch purse, her character's Clutch purse. And I sat down next to her and I said you know, when I was 18, someone took me to see the movie you did of Othello with Laurence Olivier. And after your death scene, I literally had to be carried out. I was so moved. I'll never forget that. So, this is the, her clutch burst. Now you say any part of that and I'll show you what she did. Go ahead. I had to be carried out.
Oh, honestly, and it was the most adorable thing I've ever seen. It was like, no, we're not going to complement each other. We're both pros. I mean, it was, it's everything with a smack smacked me with her clutch purse. And it was the greatest compliment ever. The greatest thing ever. And what I'm also very happy about is she was crying, one day. You know, I'm going to see Maggie Smith cry. I said, what on earth is the matter?
I've got an abscess. And the, I asked someone if I could go to a dentist and they said no. I said, well, it just so happened that the producer of the movie had produced my then girlfriend's movie, clueless Scott Rudin. So, I said, just hold on a second. So I go to Scott, said, Maggie Smith's crying. Somebody said she couldn't go to the dentist. And a limousine pulled up and grabbed Maggie and took her to the dentist. And that was just because I just knew him. She was too English to understand that if you go to a first ad, of course they're going to say you can't leave she way, way, way too British for that. And I was like, well, I'll just ask the executive producer and you will, and boom, off she went and--
Steve Kmetko:
Good for you.
Bronson Pinchot:
What it just felt incredible. It was like, what? She wouldn't let me compliment, I'm going to get choked up. But she wouldn't accept a compliment. But I gave her something more meaningful, which was-- you know, I got her to a dentist. And it was, it was incredible. It was, you could never ask for that kind of-- you know what I mean? No one ever really, I saw Nikki Rooney once, and all I wanted to do was take his hand and he didn't want to be touched. And he said that he had a hand infection, but he just didn't want to be touched, which I understood, but I just so wanted to just hold his hand for one second and tell him how I, how much I loved all those old movies. The old musicals. And he went and it's like, okay, well that's not good for him. Doesn't matter what you want.
Steve Kmetko:
Doesn't work for him. Yeah.
Bronson Pinchot:
Doesn't matter what you want, but how-- you know, she didn't want to compliment and she didn't want me to talk to her and say, I as an actor, you've met so much to me, but I did get her tooth taken care of. And what the hell, how many times would you get that opportunity, you know?
Steve Kmetko:
Yeah.
Bronson Pinchot:
So, it was special.
Steve Kmetko:
Thank you, Bronson. I'm done.
Bronson Pinchot:
What is he talking about?
Steve Kmetko:
This is--
Bronson Pinchot:
I'm literally.
Steve Kmetko:
This is over.
Bronson Pinchot:
You're good. You're good. So next time I see you, you better have the camera running because I will definitely--
Steve Kmetko:
Give me a hug from behind.
Bronson Pinchot:
Oh, a hundred percent.
Steve Kmetko:
Okay.
Bronson Pinchot:
And stay there.
Steve Kmetko:
Alright.
Still Here Hollywood is a production of the Still Here Network. All things technical run by Justin Zangerle. Theme music by Brian Sanyshyn and executive producer is Jim Lichtenstein.